Basketball success runs deep in Highland Park, even without state title

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Rose Baca/neighborsgo staff photographer

Highland Park boys basketball coach David Piehler stands in the boys varsity locker room, which houses the trophies of the school's past basketball victories. This season, the boys’ team at the Class 4A high school made its 20th consecutive trip to the playoffs.

This season, the boys team at the Class 4A high school made its 20th consecutive trip to the playoffs. That run includes 14 district titles, with seven coming in the last nine years. And coach David Piehler said he doesn’t expect a move up to 6A next year to derail future triumphs.

Graduates of the program have seen their share of success in college, too, most recently with Mount St. Mary’s freshman Will Miller racking up 21 points in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, which culminates with the Final Four starting Saturday in Arlington. Other next-level names include Chris Young at Princeton, Thomas Hocker at Miami and TCU, and Billy Allen at SMU and University of Nevada.

“Here — in basketball and almost every other sport — they expect to win,” Piehler said. “It’s not a cocky, arrogant, ‘We’re better than you.’ It’s just ‘We’re gonna win.’”

But while sports like golf, tennis and swimming rack up titles, boys basketball has never reached that high point.

Highland Park hasn’t been short on chances. Boys basketball has advanced to the University Interscholastic League state tournament eight times, including three trips when the quarterfinals were part of the festivities.

Tom Shelton, who served as head coach from 1984 to ’94 and as an assistant from 1969 to ’84, said trying to win a high school basketball title presents a bigger, more drawn-out challenge than in other sports where Highland Park has seen success. He said it’s similar to the grueling road of the NCAA tournament.

“It can be done, but everything has to be good to do that,” Shelton said.

Shelton said the 1972 team, coached by Bo Snowden, was one of the best in program history. But one of Highland Park’s best players broke a bone in his foot, and the team lost to Midland in the regional final. Roosevelt, a team Highland Park beat earlier in the year, won the state title.

Under Shelton, the school advanced to the state semifinals in 1989 for the first time in 32 years. Other teams in school history were better, he said, and the move down to 4A from 5A helped.

That year, Highland Park beat Lancaster, 46-44, in overtime at SMU’s Moody Coliseum to advance to Austin. They lost, 57-55, to Port Arthur Lincoln, which went on to win the championship.

Many players in Shelton’s 25 years at the school went on to the college ranks, he said. Billy Allen, whose dad coached at SMU and later Nevada, racked up a prolific 936 assists in his career. The NCAA didn’t keep assists as an official stat until 1983-84, the year after Allen’s last.

Brian Beshara played at Rice and LSU before playing pro ball in Lebanon. Thomas Hocker starred at Miami before transferring to TCU.

“The main thing is, kids want to succeed — and they just go out there and they’ll do anything to get better in basketball or whatever sport it is. Whatever they choose to do, they just work like crazy,” Shelton said of Highland Park athletes.

Highland Park hit a high point in 1998, when the team made it to the state final with future pro baseball star Chris Young, who went on to play both sports at Princeton. But the team, led by coach Jody Bass, lost, 67-60, to Houston Waltrip.

Piehler, who played basketball at SMU with Allen, took over the Highland Park program in 2006-07. Knowing the history and the coaches that came before him was humbling, he said.

“We’re not the ones that made the tradition,” Piehler said. “That’s been set and upheld by all the teams before us.”

Several college players have come during Piehler’s time, including Miller, Daniel Edwards at Princeton, and brothers Matt and James Fraschilla at Harvard and Oklahoma, respectively.

Miller, who averaged 5.6 points a game this season at Mount St. Mary’s, exploded for 21 points in a 71-64 loss to Albany in the tournament’s first round March 18 in Dayton, Ohio.

“I was impressed and very proud of him for his efforts,” Piehler said. “For a freshman to do that, that says a lot about him.”

Miller said he tried to set aside nerves from practice the day before, not unlike those he felt before his first game as a senior at Highland Park.

“You never know how often this experience will come in four years, so you’ve really got to enjoy every second of it,” Miller said.

This season, Highland Park’s playoff run ended quickly, with the District 10-4A champ losing an opening-round matchup, 58-55, in overtime to Frisco Liberty. But, had they won, Piehler said, they would have played eventual state champ Kimball, anyway.

Facing off against Dallas ISD foes early in playoffs presents a challenge, Piehler said, as will the move up to 6A. But he said his team played bigger programs in 2013-14, including three schools in Highland Park’s new district.

They’ll be ready to reload for next year, he said, just as they have in seasons past.

“You’ve got to win seven games to win it all, and you’ve got to win five to get to Austin,” Piehler said. “It’s a tough road, but why not us?”

Park Cities/North Dallas editor Andrew Scoggin can be reached at 214-977-8730. Follow him on Twitter at @AScoggin.

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